


Possibility (Worth Exploring)

by FrostOverlord



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Fluff, Literally everyone finds it hilarious, M/M, Or at least the start of one, Pre-Relationship, apparently people worship bunny, but nothing actually elaborated on, including Bunny, mentions of adult themes, which kind of confuses Jack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-26
Updated: 2014-07-26
Packaged: 2018-02-10 12:16:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2024826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrostOverlord/pseuds/FrostOverlord
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack approaches Aster after making an interesting discovery during the course of his job, but when the intended mocking backfires, Aster finds himself confronted with a possibility he'd never considered.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Possibility (Worth Exploring)

It was midday in the Warren when Aster felt it, the tell-tale chill of fall instead of spring. Used to be winter that would visit his domain with Jack, but lately fall had taken its place. The change was nice, for fall was warmer than its sister season, although Aster was unsure what had caused it. Did it matter, he had mused, when it meant Jack was finally opening up to him after all this time? In the end, he decided that it didn’t.

He had also decided that Jack was forbidden from using paint inside the Warren. Ever. Took months to get the bloody stains out.

Aster remained where he was under his Jacaranda tree, drawing a preliminary sketch of himself and the other guardians sitting around a table, laughing and having a good time. Jack could find _him_ this time, Aster wanted this idea down on paper before it fled his mind. It had been a long time since he’d last done a portrait of their group, long before Jack, in fact, and now that they had a new member a new portrait was in order. Even if it was a century or two late. The image flowed across Aster’s fingertips, dancing down pencil and settling onto the page in delicate graphite strips. In the sketch they had been playing poker in North's lounge, with Jack as a spectator. The image itself took place during a lull in the game. North was furthest back, sloshing around vodka as he and Tooth jokingly told off Sandy for cheating in the previous round. Sandy was acting innocent as can be, sand-halo and everything, while Tooth secreted away a card behind her back with her free hand. The two were incorrigible cheats when it came to cards, and half the time they worked together to take all of North’s chips before going at each other. On the other side of the table, Aster had put down his cards and was trying to coax Jack down to join them.

Suddenly, Aster’s muse left him, and a frown jumped onto his features. How would Jack respond to that? He’d already drawn the boy’s basic silhouette hiding in the rafters just above himself, but he couldn’t for the life of him figure out where the story the painting told would go next. Maybe-

But even as the idea came to him, it left. Probably for the best, really, as Jack chose that moment to saunter up to the befuddled rabbit. He was walking, rather than flying like he normally did. He was also smiling- no, smirking, and one of his hands was behind his back. The very picture of ‘innocence’.

Bloody hell, what did he do this time?

“So Bunny,” Jack began, rocking back and forth. He was excited about something, that much was certain. Aster sighed and closed his sketchbook, setting it and the pencil off to the side.

“What is it, Frostbite? Don’t tell me you did something with North’s elves again, because I refuse to harbor a fugitive.” A second time that is. The first time watching North try and fail to track down Jack while covered in pink glitter had been utterly hilarious, but he didn’t feel like dodging swords if Nick found out he’d let Jack hide from him in the Warren again.

Jack chuckled, but shook his head, “Naw, My next prank for ‘Mr. Claus’ is just a break-in to keep the Yeti on guard. Maybe get North to update his wards again.” Aster rose an eyebrow, and after a few moments of silence motioned for Jack to continue.

Jack gleefully obliged, immediately jumping into an excited retelling of how his day had gone, starting with what he’d had for breakfast. Eggs, toast, and some fruit apparently. Aster rolled his eyes. Clearly the monologue was meant to rile him up, as he’d had made it quite clear the last time he’d let Jack tell a story that it was entirely unnecessary to spend hours telling about the week leading up to what he was excited about.

Well, no reason to not oblige. Aster had no desire to know about visiting with Frosty the Snowman’s second cousin.

The low growl and barked “get on with it” were apparently exactly what Jack was looking for, as he immediately jumped forward to what had happened.

“So as I was saying, I’d just finished smoothing over this _huge_ snow storm over southern South America- and _wow_ that’s weird to say- when I happened across this little village.” Jack pulled a hand out from behind his back to observe whatever it was he was clutching. Made of wood, clearly. Jack’s eyes sparkled with mischief as he examined the object. “Several people had these little statuettes lying about, mostly young couples. They looked so _interesting_ that I decided to grab one and get a closer look.”

Jack tossed the wooden statuette and Aster, who caught it without looking and raised an eyebrow at the spirit before him.

If Jack’s smirk got any wider, people would mistake him for something Lewis Carroll had come up with. Aster glanced down at the statuette he now held, curious as to what had gotten Jack into such an excitable state, and groaned.

Damn, he’d lost the bet. By only a week too! Hopefully Tooth would go easy on him.

Jack took his groan to mean something different, however, and his eyes lit with sadistic glee, “So, when were you planning to tell me about the whole ‘sex god’ thing?”

Wait, what? Aster snorted, looking over the wooden effigy of himself. It was fairly accurate, actually. There was no bandolier, and the bracers were missing, but other than that it was a decent work of art. “Last I checked the drongos down there thought I was just a fertility spirit.”

Jack’s smirk faltered a bit, apparently he’d been expecting a different reaction than ‘mildly amused’. Probably an embarrassed one, considering the subject of their conversation. After a moment, Jack coughed, his voice somewhat less enthusiastic, “Yeah, well, you got upgraded, because it definitely wasn’t just fertility they were asking you for.”

Jack became somewhat red in the face when he mentioned that, unnoticeable to anyone without the powerful sense of sight pooka possessed. As it was it took a moment for Aster to register that the boy was blushing. Which was odd, Jack never had issues talking about the more adult subjects. Hell, he had incited what was probably one of the most explicit and amusing conversations the guardians had ever had not too long ago, though it had helped that everyone was somewhat tipsy at the time. Poor Sandy, being the only one that was completely unaffected by alcohol, had been forced to sit out at one point, refusing to ‘talk’ due to the subject matter. It had prompted the others to make a game out of getting him back into the conversation. Aster smirked and shook his head as he returned to the present, “The ideas you humans come up with,” he said, chuckling under his breath, “Sex god? Really?”

He tossed the wooden statue back to Jack, who immediately shot out a somewhat desperate hand to grab it. The boy laughed once the object was in hand, “Hey now,” he joked, “don’t lump me in with them. Sure I was human once, but I’m one hundred percent elemental trickster spirit now.”

Aster scoffed, “Sure, you’re not human at all anymore, and I’m just an overgrown talking rabbit.”

Jack smirked, glancing down at the statue, “I hope not,” he muttered, before apparently realizing that, yes, Aster _could_ still hear him and amending the comment. “I mean, space alien is a _lot_ cooler, you know?”

Aster nodded, going along with the logic for the moment while he tried to work out what was up with Jack. He was acting strangely. The young man had walked up to him instead of flown, was acting embarrassed over things that normally wouldn’t bother him in the slightest, and now the strange muttering? The pooka mulled it over for a moment, then decided that the direct route would probably be best.

“Something wrong, Frostbite?”

Jack immediately turned on him, surprise in his eyes and a tighter-than-normal grip on his staff. “Wha-what? N- no, I’m fine.”

Aster frowned; no matter what the situation, Jack Frost did _not_ stutter. Aster shifted forward, looking Jack over. No, there was definitely something up. "What’s eating you Jack?”

Jack shuffled in place and looked away, the blush that had previously graced his face returning fiercely, followed by a layer of frost. Aster raised an eyebrow at the development, having never seen Jack embarrassed before. The kid was _way_ too confident normally, so whatever was going on had to be something major. After nearly a minute of silence, with Jack shifting from side to side on his feet, Aster began to grow irritable.

“Out with it already, Frost.”

Almost immediately Jack’s smile returned, fake though it was. With a quick turn he was facing away from Aster, “Actually, I need to go do something. Totally forgot that I had that thing to do, so I’ll just be-“

Oh for- Jack was _not_ taking off without explaining. Aster growled, drawing Jack’s attention and curtly motioning for him to stay. The winter spirit hesitated momentarily, then reluctantly turned back around and sat next to Aster, pointedly not looking in the pooka's direction. Really, this was getting ridiculous. Jack was acting like a buffoon. No, wait, he acted the buffoon all the time. This was more in line with a love… struck… oh.

Bloody hell.

He was acting like a love-struck teenager.

Around Aster.

El-Ahrairah help him, Jack had a crush on him didn’t he? Aster sighed, rubbing his eyes. Now hold on, there was nothing saying that he was right. Maybe it was something else, or some _one_ else. He could just be seeing things, and even if Aster’s hunch was right it wasn’t like Jack crushing on him was the worst thing in the world. Easy enough to deal with: just let him down gently, make it clear that it they were still friends. No reason for that to affect their relationship adversely, not after everything they’d had to go through to make the bleeding friendship work in the first place. As Aster thought through the situation, he watched Jack wearily, observing the small nervous twitches and worried glances. Well, no point putting it off.

Aster cleared his throat, “Listen,” he said, fully aware that he was venturing into uncharted waters, “We’re friends now. You can tell me anything, Jack, I’ll understand.”

Jack looked over, considering the words for a while before, finally, shifting a bit to better face Aster. His eyes held the smallest of hopes, and even as Jack opened his mouth Aster felt that hope swell to the point of almost choking him. That seemed too… extreme for a mere crush. Please El-Ahrairah, don’t make this harder than it already was. Jack shut his mouth after a moment to swallow, apparently having trouble getting the words out. Aster offered a hand, leveling a thin smile at the nervous man. Jack smiled back, and accepted Aster’s offer, though hesitantly. Finally, after minutes of sitting there in silence, Jack spoke.

“So, uh,” Jack stuttered out, his grip tightening ever-so-slightly around Aster’s paw, “I, um. This is going to sound really weird and I totally understand if you hate me for it or whatever, but I… uh.”

Jack swallowed again and looked away, squeezing his eyes shut, “I’m in love with you.”

Aster froze. Love? That was _much_ bigger than a mere crush. You didn’t just _say_ that you’re in love with someone. Sure there where some shady types that might, but Jack wouldn't. He wasn't the kind of person to say something so heavy and not mean it. Suddenly Aster had no idea how to move forward. He’d been preparing for something _easy_ to deal with. Full on love was most definitely not easy. Aster sniffed the air, taking in Jack’s scent and noting the faint thread of fear that laced it.

“You sure it’s not just a crush?”

Jack huffed a bitter laugh and looked away, gripping Aster's paw as if expecting to never have the chance to again, “Crushes don’t last over two hundred years, Cottontail. I'm sure.”

Aster took a deep breath. That was how it was then? He had to hand it to the kid, Jack was good at hiding things. It would probably be easy enough to let the boy down still… but… his _eyes_. There was so much fragile hope behind those eyes now that Aster found himself hesitating. Was it right of him to just dash the kid’s hopes completely? Sure, he’d never considered it before, but that fact on its own made an excellent point. He’d never given the possibility a moment’s thought before, while Jack had likely been thinking it over for two hundred years or more and most certainly seemed sure about it.

Apparently, though, Jack didn’t like the silence Aster’s thinking had left them in. He pulled out of Aster’s grip and began to back away. “I knew it,” he was mumbling, “I shouldn’t have said anything.“

Decision time, if he didn’t respond immediately Jack would make a break for it and their already rocky friendship could very well fall apart. Aster reached out and placed a paw and Jack’s shoulder, stopping the self-depreciative mumbling and anchoring Jack in place. What he said next could completely destroy everything the two had worked towards the past two centuries, or make them closer than ever. All or Nothing.

“Look, I… I don’t exactly feel the same way as you do.”

Jack’s face immediately darkened, and his shoulders slumped, defeated.

“But,” Aster’s continuation drew a surprised look from Jack, “I’m not opposed to the idea either.” Suddenly there was hope dancing in Jack’s eyes again as the boy stared at Aster, one hand clinging to his staff desperately while the other shifted forwards the tiniest bit. Aster smiled, “I suppose we could give it a go and see how things turn out. Just because I haven’t considered it before doesn’t mean it can’t happe-“

Aster was cut off by an armful of Jack, who was clinging to him desperately and… crying? Aster sighed and wrapped his arms around the younger male, a warm feeling curling up in his chest as a smile graced his lips. He’d never considered this as a possibility, that Jack and he might become mates. There were so many differences, and a lot of bad blood between them. Not to mention they were both male (although that was more a consideration for Jack than Aster; the pooka had been shapeshifters, relying on gender for mating had been detrimental in the evolutionary sense). With everything stacked against it as it was, he’d never once considered the possibility before.

But now that he did… Aster spared a glance down at Jack, still crying tears of joy into his fur, and closed his eyes.

Now that he considered it, he knew that it was a possibility worth exploring.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a fluffy little idea that hit me while I was about to sit down and work on A Toy on the Wind. I liked it quite a bit, and so decided to make it happen! It was written very quickly, so the writing might be a bit sloppy, but I hope you guys liked it. :3
> 
> In case you're wondering, Aster's muse came back. And draped Jack over his shoulders. Because it was totally how Jack would react and Aster knew it.


End file.
